


Once Upon A Baby

by frozenorange



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, De-Aged Stiles, Family, Fluff, Kid Fic, Kid!Stiles, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-20
Updated: 2013-07-20
Packaged: 2017-12-20 20:29:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/891510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frozenorange/pseuds/frozenorange
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Isaac comes home with Stiles who has been turned into a toddler, Derek takes care of him while trying to understand what happened to his mate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Once Upon A Baby

**Author's Note:**

> This happened after watching the mid season 3 trailer they showed at Comic Con. I realized that not only I had underestimated the whole "This Might Hurt" thing but also that I needed more fluff. Tons of fluff to cheer me up after the events that happened so far (and that are about to happen). So I wrote a kid fic.

Sleeping has was never easy for Derek Hale and he didn’t get a whole night of sleep ever since Kate Argent murdered his family. Nightmares of his house burning down, of his family members calling for help, of his little brothers and sister crying terrified haunted him in his sleep. Werewolves don’t get tired as easily as humans so a few hours of sleep at night, and not even every night, were enough to keep him functioning. He was finally able to sleep peacefully throughout the night only after he and Stiles became a couple, especially when the human was sleeping by his side. Stiles is like a balm for Derek’s wounded soul.

Even if he’s not a morning person, Derek always wakes up earlier than Stiles. Sometimes he wakes up because the sun filtering through the curtains wakes him, sometimes his werewolf senses are awakened by noises coming from the garden and sometimes he wakes up simply because he slept enough during the night and in the morning he’s fully rested. There are many different reasons why Derek wakes up earlier than Stiles but they never included a baby crying downstairs before today.

Derek shifts so that he's facing Stiles’ side of the bed, only half awake. “Can you get it?” he drawls out nuzzling his pillow and reaching out to shake Stiles awake. He doesn’t react when he feels Stiles’ side of the bed empty, instead he listens to what’s going on downstairs. He hears a familiar voice whispering to the baby who finally stops crying. Derek drags the covers up to his chin and turns on his side to go back to sleep, humming happily, glad that he didn’t had to leave his comfy bed because Stiles took care of the baby already. 

The baby.

The baby that he’s most certainly sure they don’t have. Now that he thinks about it, the voice he heard is familiar because it belongs to a member of the pack, but it’s definitely not Stiles'.

Derek is out of his bedroom so fast that one moment he was under the covers snuggling with his pillow and a moment later he is downstairs in his living room, completely awake, standing only in his boxers and a ruined grey tank top behind Isaac who’s kneeling in front of Derek’s couch, whispering to a bundle of covers that Derek can't quite see.

“Shhh, please be quiet… we don’t want to wake up Derek, do we?” Isaac whispers and Derek rolls his eyes because no way Isaac didn’t hear him coming downstairs.

“I’m already awake, Isaac.”

Isaac jumps to his feet and turns to Derek, trying to hide the baby sitting in the middle of Derek’s couch with his body, “How long have you been there?”

“Did you lost your werewolf senses on your way here?” Derek says mockingly and crouches next to Isaac to peer at the baby.

“Uh, no I was just… I was too focused and I didn’t hear you coming in,” he explains following Derek with his eyes. He goes pale when he sees that Derek has noticed the baby. He realizes that Derek must have been woken up by the baby distressed cries.

The room is dark so Derek turns on the lights. From experience he knows that babies don't like the dark, especially human babies. The baby is almost completely hidden by the red blanket Isaac wrapped him into, Derek can see just the chubby face of the child who probably isn’t older than one year. The baby is looking up at Derek with his big hazel eyes, his tiny hands are curled around the blanket that Isaac had draped over him like a mantle, a stray lock of dark hair escapes from the quilt where it’s covering the toddler head like a hood, a red hood, and Derek fights the urge to roll his eyes.

“Where did he came from?” Derek asks Isaac but his eyes never leave the baby.

Isaac crosses his arms against his chest and shifts uncomfortably on his feet, “And then you judge my senses. Take a sniff,” Isaac instructs, gesturing to the baby.

Derek frowns as he gets closer to the baby and does as Isaac suggested, he sniffs his hair to inhale the baby's scent. The baby takes advantage of the closeness of Derek's face to play with the alpha's nose, babbling quietly as he does.

“He smells like…” the alpha shakes his head, it can’t be. The smell of the blanket probably has covered the smell of the baby.

Derek gently pries the tiny hand away from his nose and sniffs the infant's hand and arm. Isaac doesn't miss the way the alpha's shoulder tense when he smells the baby, he can tell that he finally recognized the scent. Derek lets go of the small arm and frowns at the kid who is too busy playing with the rim of the blanket to notice him.

"Isaac," Derek says, it sounds like a threat but Isaac knows it's more of a question.

"Your senses are not deceiving you," Isaac assures him. "That baby... He is..." he gestures awkwardly because he can’t bring himself to say it. 

"Stiles!?" Derek blurts out.

The head of the toddler snaps up when he hears his name and he rewards Derek with a big chubby grin, "Nya!"

Long beats of silence pass before Derek speaks again. “Care to give me an explanation?” Derek asks, his face unreadable as always. He sits on the armrest of the couch, focusing on his beta and ignoring the baby.

Isaac flops down on the couch next to the baby – _Stiles_ and the child shuffles across the cushions and climbs into Isaac’s lap to be cuddled by the beta werewolf. Stiles plays with Isaac’s scarf babbling to himself as the beta explains to Derek what happened.

“I was out in the woods, running, and I found a shed that I had never seen before. I got closer to it and noticed its smell, it smelled like magic, like witchcraft. It was into your territory and you never told us about a witch living here so I decided to call you,” Isaac looks up from the toddler in his lap and he’s met with Derek’s glare. Isaac holds his hands up, “It’s not my fault Stiles answered your phone!”

“What did she do to him?” Derek snarls.

“Nothing. He tripped and a bottle of sparkly green dust fell over him.”

Derek growls and his eyes flash red and even though he knows Derek is angry at the witch and not at him, Isaac’s instincts kick in, he immediately stiffens and cowers away from the enraged alpha.

Stiles, who was making his way up to Derek’s lap, freezes as he hears the feral growl coming from the alpha. Stiles’ stops in his tracks and sits back heavily, confused on what’s going on around him. His lower lip trembles and distress overcomes the toddler. He whimpers, and then he cries with all his might.

With another grunt Derek reaches forward and takes Stiles in his arms, holding him against his chest, gently rocking him to calm him down. He runs a hand up and down the toddler’s back, “Come on, Stiles. Shh, it’s okay. Don’t cry,” Derek whispers to the bawling child. In less than a minute Stiles is calm again and his sobs quiet down to small whimpers and little sighs.

“All better, hm?” Derek asks the toddler.

Stiles coos happily and rests his head on Derek’s shoulder. Derek takes it as an affirmative answer and nuzzles the toddler back. Stiles curls one hand in Derek’s shirt and sneaks his other little arm around the alpha’s neck, clinging to him.

Once the child is calm again, Derek’s attention is back to Isaac and the alpha werewolf sits on the couch. As soon as Derek sits down, the baby nestles comfortably in his lap. “This is the result of a spell, then?” Derek asks.

Isaac nods.

Stiles curls against the alpha’s chest and fists Derek’s shirt in his little hands. They’re silent for a while after that, Stiles sleeping against Derek’s strong chest as Derek gently strokes his back and his head with an expression of utter love and adoration that Isaac has never seen before on his alpha’s face. One day Derek will be a great father.

The quiet is disturbed by footsteps coming from the stairs. Isaac quickly turns to the direction from where the footsteps are coming, Derek doesn’t bother.

“What the hell is going on down here?” Erica groans, rubbing sleep away from her eyes. Apparently the fuss has disturbed her sleep too. Before they can answer, Erica notices the baby. “Why do you have a baby?”

Derek is too engrossed in cuddling the baby to answer and so Isaac has to explain. “That baby is Stiles,” he says simply whipping his head up to look at Erica.

 “Stiles, under a curse,” she mumbles in acknowledgement. “That explains the oddly tender way Derek is looking at him,” she chuckles. Then she takes Stiles’ phone from the coffee table where Isaac had put it and snaps a picture of Derek cradling Stiles to his chest.

“Awesome,” she muses showing the picture to Isaac. Derek shots a glare at her but doesn’t say anything and doesn’t move because he’s afraid he’ll wake up Stiles if he moves.

Erica takes the hint and plops down on the armrest next to Isaac and the two beta watch silently their alpha cuddling a sleepy Stiles, exchanging from time to time meaningful glances.

It’s not long before Stiles groans softly and his grip on Derek’s tank top tightens before he lets go of the rumpled shirt and takes his tiny little fists to his face to rub his sleepy eyes. “Hey,” Derek whispers fondly and Stiles looks up at him with a big, chubby smile. Derek presses his lip on top of the baby’s head and then looks at Erica and Isaac, from their expression it seems like Christmas has come early.

“He’s precious,” Erica muses leaning forward to look closer at the baby. Stiles look up at her with his big hazel eyes, diffident at first but when Erica gives him one of her bright smiles the baby squeaks happily and holds his little hands out to be swooped up by Erica. She doesn’t miss the way Derek’s grip on the baby tightens when he’s afraid Stiles will be taken away from him so she jumps down from the armrest and circles the couch so she can crouch next to Derek. She pets the baby’s head who babbles happily as he basks in the loving cuddles.

“You babble a lot but you don’t say much, do you?” Erica chuckles. “Can you say Derek?”

The baby shifts in Derek’s lap so he’s facing Erica and looks at her, puzzled.

“Derek,” Erica repeats, slowly, drawling out every letter. “Come on, Stiles, say it. Derek.”

“I don’t think that’s going to work, he won’t learn to say it because you repeated it three times,” Isaac tells her but still moves closer to them.

“He still has his memories, Isaac. He knows who Derek is and he knows how to say it, he just has to learn it again,” Erica explains then she turns again to the baby. “Derek,” Erica repeats, looking straight into Stiles’ eyes.

Stiles opens his mouth as if to say something, then closes it again. He frowns and Erica and Isaac look at him expectantly with encouraging smiles on their lips. Derek looks like he couldn’t care less if Stiles says his name or not, but when the toddler finally opens his mouth to speak Derek’s eyes light up like stars.

“De’ek,”  Stiles says and when the three werewolf cheer and clap he shrieks happily and giggles, flailing his arms happily, proud of himself.

“You’re such a smart boy,” Erica congratulates, rewarding the baby with more loving cuddles. “Can you say your name?”

Stiles grins, he knows the answer. “Stiles,” he beams happily. Derek and Isaac look pleasantly surprised but Erica looks downright ecstatic. She’s about to teach the toddler some new words but suddenly Stiles pouts and whimpers. Derek, who is the only one who saw the crisis coming, scoops the baby up and walks away from the two beta. “Enough,” he tells Erica before she can pout. The alpha can’t tell what caused such a reaction but he focuses on soothing the squirming baby. Only when the tiny stomach growls hungry Derek realizes that the baby is starving and that he doesn’t have kid friendly food in his kitchen.

Isaac seems to understand what’s going on in Derek’s mind because he’s the one who says, “You’ll need supplies if you are going to raise him.”

Derek grunts in acknowledgement and heads for the kitchen.

“Wait a minute,” Erica says following Derek and Isaac. “What do you mean when you say _raise_ him? This is just temporary right?” She looks like she’s about to freak out so Derek, being the good alpha he is, assures her that it’s not a permanent condition.

“Usually shape-shifting curses last from five to ten days, I don’t think this is going to be much different,” he explains to Erica as he puts the baby on the kitchen counter. It’s not very safe so he makes a mental note to borrow a high chair from someone who might have one. Derek turns back to stare at the two betas who are standing behind him. “You said I need supplies,” he tells Isaac who nods. Derek doesn’t say anything else, he just stares and waits for his betas to understand what he wants them to do.

Isaac gets it first, “It’s five in the morning, shops are not open yet.”

“Some shops are opened 24 hours a day, you just need to find one. Take some cash from my wallet and the car keys. Now go,” he orders and then his attention is back to the starving toddler. “Take Stiles’ car,” he calls before Erica and Isaac close the door behind themselves. He pointedly ignores Stiles’ unpleased grunt.

 

*

 

“Care to tell me how it really happened?” Erica asks as soon as they’re out of earshot.

At first, Isaac considers telling her just a part of the story. It’s the closest thing to lying when it comes to a werewolf. Your heart beats differently when you’re lying but nothing happens if you’re telling the truth, even if it’s just a part of it. As soon as they’re out of earshot Isaac sighs, “Promise you won’t tell Derek?”

Erica smirks, she knew there was something going on there. There’s always something going on when Stiles is involved. “I won’t tell Derek,” she promises.

Isaac’s eyes never leave the road before him as he says, “I don’t know how he met her, but Stiles is friend of a witch. He went to her because he desperately wanted a baby but, of course, he and Derek can’t have one.”

“Go on,” Erica tells him, because she has an idea where this is going and she doesn’t like it already.

“The witch said she could help him, that she knew a spell that would help Stiles but something went wrong and, yeah, you know the rest,” Isaac shrugs pulling the car into the parking lot of a Target which apparently is open 24 hours a day.

“And there’s nothing we can do aside from waiting until the effect of the spell fades,” Erica concludes.

“We can always help Derek take care of him until he’s back to normal,” Isaac suggests as they walk into the store.

Erica huffs out a laugh, “Yeah, because he’s definitely not possessive of him.”

Isaac snorts, and heads for the isle labeled “baby care”. It’s only when they’re surrounded by boxes and objects they’ve never seen before  that they realize they have absolutely no idea what they’re looking for.

 

*

 

Derek takes a banana from the fruit bowl, peels it and cuts the fruit into small pieces feeding Stiles bite after bite of food. Stiles smacks his lips happily after every bite, making pleased noises.

“You like it, don’t you?” Derek asks, pressing another bit of food against the baby’s lips.

Stiles smacks his hands on the countertop, an affirmative answer to Derek’s question.

Derek obliges feeding Stiles another small bit of banana. After swallowing every bite Stiles holds his mouth open signaling that he wants more food and a smile appears on Derek’s lips every time the toddler makes a contorted expression as he munches on his food.

Stiles eats all the banana and then, because Stiles keeps asking for more, Derek tries giving him a small piece of pear. Stiles makes a disgusted face as he swallows the food  and he doesn’t ask for more. Figuring that Stiles is done eating, Derek uses a paper towel to clean up his chin and then takes the baby in his arms rocking him to sleep.

When the two werewolf come back from their shopping mission they find Derek cooking breakfast with Stiles cradled against his side. Isaac thinks that it’s not fair Derek can hold up a baby as if he weights no more than a feather.

“Is he sleeping?” Erica whispers. Derek nods in affirmative and she holds up one of the two bags she’s carrying, “Here are some clothes and diapers.” She puts the bag on the couch and points to the other one she’s holding, “And here are some toys, I have no idea what a one year old baby might like but he needs toys, we all know that Stiles gets bored too easily,” she shrugs passing the bag over to Derek who inspects it, careful not to wake up Stiles who is still asleep in his arms.

“These will do, thanks,” he assures putting the bag aside.

Isaac, who in the meantime had disappeared into the kitchen, joins them in the living room. “I already put the food for Stiles is in the kitchen,” he explains. “Now if you don’t mind, we would like to sleep some more.”

Derek nods and with that the two werewolf are dismissed.

 

*

 

The morning went fine and, despite the odd situation in which he found himself in, Derek had fun. He had washed Stiles in the bathtub, he had put him in a diaper without too many shenanigans, he had dressed the baby with a red onesie Isaac had bought for Stiles, he was clearly carrying on the little red hood joke, and they had also played with the construction blocks Erica had gotten when they were doing the shopping. Even if he looks like he’s about one year old Stiles doesn’t talk. He babbles a lot, especially when he and Derek are playing, but he doesn’t say actual sentences, he just says one or two words when prompted to do so. To Derek, who is used to having Stiles around all the time, the quietness seems wrong. Derek likes babies. He grew up in a big family, surrounded by younger siblings and cousins, he had always wanted to have a big family of his own once he found a suitable mate. Taking care of Stiles like this fills him with longing for a son that he and Stiles will probably never have.

It’s only around lunchtime that Derek remembers that if he’s going to take care of Stiles, even if only for few days, he needs an high chair. He can’t have Stiles sitting on the counter while he feeds him because it’s too dangerous, especially for Stiles who doesn’t heal like werewolves do, and because he needs a place to put the toddler when he’s cooking and eating his own lunch, he can’t keep him in his arms forever.

Isaac and Erica are still sleeping upstairs, catching up on the hours of sleep they lost during the night, so Derek can’t count on their help for feeding the baby. Derek makes a quick ham and cheese sandwich for himself and eats it while feeding Stiles small bits of ham, pieces of cheese and some peas. Stiles eats everything Derek gives him and he’s sure that the baby shouldn’t eat that much. He wonders if it’s a curse thing or just a Stiles’ thing.

After lunch, and after changing Stiles’ diaper again, Derek takes a nap on the couch with Stiles snoring on top of his chest. Derek discovers that taking care of a young baby takes a lot of physical effort and it’s more exhausting than running into the woods a whole night. When they wake up one hour later, Erica is not in the house anymore. Derek notices that Stiles’ phone is not where he had put it earlier so he picks it up and inspects it. In the phone there’s a picture of him and Stiles sleeping that Erica must have taken before she went out.

After their nap Stiles seems bored, he’s not interested in his blocks anymore and nothing on TV seems to entertain him for more than ten minutes. Derek decides that he might take Stiles to his dad's so they can spend some time together and he can see if the sheriff has some supplies from when Stiles was a baby, like the much needed high chair. A high chair and a car seat, because he can’t drive if he doesn’t get one. He wakes up Isaac and uses his alpha power to make the beta werewolf drive him to the sheriff’s house. It’s a Saturday afternoon which means that the sheriff is home.

Over the past years the sheriff and Derek had developed a good relationship even if at first Stiles’ dad was not too pleased that his son was dating a werewolf. Derek shifts Stiles to his hip and knocks. Apparently the car ride had lulled Stiles to sleep because halfway through their short journey the baby had stopped squirming and had fell asleep.

“Derek! It’s a pleasure to see you,” the sheriff says as he opens the door. He looks at the sleepy baby in Derek’s arms and frowns. “Who is this little guy?”

Derek looks down at Stiles who is still asleep and asks the sheriff permission to come in. The sheriff steps aside to let Derek walk in but he’s eyeing the baby carefully. “You didn’t kidnap him, did you?” he sounds serious and Derek feels somehow offended.

“I would never do something like that,” he defends himself.

The sheriff closes the door behind Derek, “I know _you_ wouldn’t, but I can say the same for my son, though. After what he told me a couple of days ago I wouldn’t be too surprised if he kidnapped a baby.”

“Why would he?” Derek frowns. As far as he knows Stiles likes children but doesn’t want to have kids of his own. Now that he thinks about it, though, he realizes that they never discussed the issue so he doesn’t know how Stiles feels about babies. Derek had just assumed that Stiles was too young to want kids.  

“Well, recently Stiles was telling me how much he wants kid and a couple of days ago he told me that he might have figured how to make things work and now,” John motions to the baby, “you show up with a toddler.” The sheriff shrugs, “You know Stiles, when he wants something, nothing can stop him from getting it.”

“He wanted kids?” Derek blurts out, confused.

“I take he never told you, did he? Don’t be surprised, Stiles is pretty good at doing things behind people’s back.”

Derek thinks about what Isaac said, or rather, what he didn’t say. Sure it’s witchcraft but… was this part of a twisted plan of Stiles to have kids? The main problem though, is to tell the sheriff that the baby is Stiles and not a random baby.

“Are you going to tell me who he is?” John asks when Derek doesn’t say anything.  He closer to the baby who is still snoring against Derek’s shoulder.

“See for yourself,” Derek says and shifts the baby so that he’s facing the sheriff. The shuffling disturbed Stiles’ sleep and the baby grunts as he’s about to wake up.

“Oh my god,” John shouts, shocked. “Stiles?!”

The baby, having heard someone calling for him, opens his eyes to see who disturbed his sleep, when he recognizes the man standing in front of him he smiles happily, “Dad!”

 

*

 

As soon as the sheriff recovered from the initial shock the three of them are sitting at the kitchen table, Derek holding Stiles in his lap and the sheriff nursing a glass of whiskey.

“A witch did that?”

Derek nods, “The effect will wear off in one week, more or less.”

John takes the glass to his lips, earning a scowl and a little growl from his son. “Already judging, aren’t you?” he snorts and ruffles the little boy’s hair.

“What are you going to do with him, now?” he asks Derek.

Derek blinks confused, he thought it was obvious, “I’ll take care of him.”

The sheriff raises an eyebrow, “You sure you can handle him?”

“With all due respect, sir, I grew up among younger siblings, I know my way around kids,” Derek says, gently prying Stiles’ fingers away from the cap of the bottle that he had stolen from the table.

“Don’t call me ‘sir’, son. We’ve already established that such formalities are not necessary. I don’t doubt that, what I mean is that you’ll have your hands full with him,” John shrugs. “He’s a quite active kid.”

“That didn’t change as he grew up, huh?” Derek muses, smirking. The sheriff snorts and sips one last gulp of whiskey.

Stiles starts squirming in Derek’s hands, he leans away from Derek and reaches for the ground with his tiny arms. “Do you want to be put down?” Derek asks but the baby doesn’t answer, he just wriggles with more insistence. “Alright then,” the werewolf lifts the baby from his lap and gently puts him on the ground on all fours. As soon as he is on the ground Stiles scuttles for the living room.

"How old is he? We guessed around one year but we're not sure," Derek asks, listening to whatever is happening in the living room where Stiles is alone. 

"Yes, a couple of months more than one year. He’s always been too tiny for his age,” John shakes his head.

Derek remembers the day the sheriff had shown Derek some pictures of Stiles as a kid. It was a lazy rainy afternoon and they were getting bored in front of the TV watching The Lion King because it was the only decent thing in TV. John said that it was Stiles' favorite movie as a kid and that he was obsessed with it, Stiles had argued that it wasn't true, and to prove his point the sheriff had shown Derek some pictures of Stiles when he was five. It was an Halloween party and Stiles was wearing a lion costume and he was making a face as if he was roaring. Derek laughed at the picture, and despite being glad that Derek was laughing, he sulked. "Just wait, I'll see pictures of your childhood sooner or later," he threatened. Derek's face went from joyful to plain sad. Stiles mentally slapped himself, he should have thought before opening his mouth, all Derek's pictures burned down with the house during the fire, Stiles felt guilty for mentioning it. "I'm so sorry, Derek" Stiles apologized. Derek shrugged and smiled sadly at Stiles, telling him that it wasn’t a big deal. The rest of the afternoon was spent looking at old photos with John telling Derek some stories of when Stiles was a little kid and all the troubles he got himself in. When they found a photo album of Stiles when he was one year old with his mom, Stiles tear up a little and Derek just held him tighter. 

Derek remembers that he came to the sheriff's house for a reason and finally mentions it. "Even if the situation is just temporary I still need things like a high chair or a car seat, so I wondered if maybe you still have something I could borrow."

John thinks about it for a while and then nods, standing from the table. "I think I have something in the basement. Take Stiles and follow me."

Derek goes to the living room where Stiles is playing with one of the cushions of the couch. When he sees Derek the baby holds up his hands to be carried by the werewolf. “Nope," Derek scolds. "You're old enough to walk." He didn't think Stiles will actually walk instead of getting away on all fours, but Stiles climbs down from the couch and takes one wobbly step towards Derek. "Good boy," Derek muses and holds his hand out for Stiles to take it. Stiles curls his little fingers around Derek's index finger and he walks to the basement, holding onto Derek as he slowly climbs down the steps, one at time. When they reach the ground the sheriff is rummaging through a box. "I found the high chair and a stroller. There’s also his crib if you want," he says pointing to his right. "No car seat, sorry. I found some of his toys and some clothes but nothing that would fit him right now."

Stiles, who pressed himself tightly against Derek's legs as soon as they entered the basement, is suddenly very interested in what his father said. "Toys?" He asks with his tiny voice. 

"Your favorite stuffed toy," he explains to the kid. "But we should clean it first, it has been in there for quite a lot of time." 

Stiles looks at the toy his father is talking about, it's a white rocking horse, and then nods, "'kay."

"Do you want to come with me while Derek uses his super strenght to take these heavy objects upstairs?" 

Stiles lets go of Derek's finger and walks to his dad, raising his hands up. The sheriff sighs and shifts the rocking horse to his other hand before he lifts the baby up mumbling, "You're such a spoiled kid." 

 

*

 

Stiles spends the rest of his afternoon with his dad while Derek takes the objects back to his house. On his way home he stops at Babies ‘R’ Us to buy a car seat, a high chair and also some things that Isaac and Erica didn’t get in the morning. Once he gets home he sets up the crib in his bedroom even though he doesn’t know if he should use it or not, especially because Stiles will probably change back during the night. He puts the box of old toys next to the couch in the living room where the toys Erica had brought him are still gathered and makes room in the kitchen for the high chair that he brought on the way home. He left Stiles’ high chair at the sheriff’s because Derek had the feeling John would want to have dinner with them more than just once. He puts all the clothes Isaac had brought in the washer and then washes the baby cup he got at Babies ‘R’ Us. When the washing machine is going and he doesn’t have nothing else to do except wait for it to finish, he looks up information on the spell into some of Stiles’ books and on the internet with no success. When he doesn’t find the information he was looking for, and after putting the clothes in the dryer, he decides to go to the animal clinic and see if Deaton could help him.

“I’ve heard a lot about transfiguration curses, but usually they involve humans turned into animals, I’ve never heard of something like what happened to Stiles,” Deaton says after Derek told him what happened. “It might be the result of a spell gone wrong.”

Derek frowns, “What do you mean?”

“Usually when a spell or a potion it’s not done properly it doesn’t have any effect. Sometimes, though, the spell has a different result than the one expected,” Deaton explains talking one old tome from a shelf behind him. “The hardest the spell is, the easiest is for it to go wrong. Simple transfiguration or shape shifting curses are not hard to do, any witch with little experience will be able to do it properly so this has to be something different.”

“Are you saying that whatever happened to Stiles is the result of some complicated spell that went wrong?” Derek asks, leaning against the wall. To him, this story doesn’t make any sense. Witch in general don't make sense to Derek, but that's beside the point.

“Probably. You said something about a green dust, right?” Deaton asks, inspecting closely a page of his old book.

“Yes. At least, that’s what Isaac told me.”

Deaton nods and flips a couple of pages before putting the book down on the table. “I think it might be the Humanizing Dust,” he explains, pushing the book closer to Derek so he might see it for himself. “The Humanizing Dust is a dust that is used to reverse shape shifting curses, if it’s used on someone who was transfigured into an animal, it will break the curse and make this person human again. This dust, along with an ancient spell was often used to try and turn animals into humans. It’s something really hard to do and as far as we know, no one ever managed to make it work.”

“They why are you telling me this?” Derek asks, a little annoyed with the doctor’s mysterious behavior.

“There’s a simplified version of this curse, it turns puppies into toddlers. It should be easier to do and it’s said that some witches in Maine a hundred years ago were able to make it work. Like I said, maybe the curse went wrong and instead of turning a pup into a toddler, it turned Stiles.” Deaton explains.

Derek considers the information for a moment, John had said something about Stiles wanting kids, could Stiles have asked help to a witch? _“You know Stiles,”_ John had told him that afternoon. _“When he wants something, nothing can stop him from getting it.”_

“If Stiles wanted to turn a puppy into a baby, who could he have asked for help?”

Deaton blinks, “As far as I know, there are no witches in Beacon Hills. But now that I think about it, last week a young woman that I never saw before came here with a malnourished wolf cub. She said that she had found it abandoned in the woods and she wanted me to check his health, see if he was going to live.”

“Do you think she was the witch that cursed Stiles? Do you think she attacked him?” Derek growls. No one attacks his mate, an attack to Stiles is an attack to Derek and alpha werewolves can be pretty vindictive when their mate is threatened.

“Rather than attacked, I’d say she probably helped him. Or tried to, since apparently the magic didn't work as planned,” Deaton reasons, closing the book and putting it to the side. “Maybe Stiles asked her to perform the spell and something went wrong. Nothing can break the curse but the effect will wear off eventually, I’d say it might take from ten day to two weeks.”

Derek nods, it all made sense now. Stiles, desperate to have kids, must have asked this witch to help him.

“Thanks Deaton,” Derek says as he heads out.

 

*

 

It’s around seven when Derek goes back to the sheriff’s house. He uses his key to let himself in to not disturb John. Father and son are in the living room, Stiles is sitting on a rocking horse and the sheriff is helping him rock back and forth, careful not to let Stiles slip down and hurt himself. Derek decides not to tell John what he found out, he might be wrong in his assumptions and he thinks it’s better if Stiles explains it to him when he’s back to normal.

“Everything okay?” John asks Derek as the werewolf sets one bag of groceries on the ground. He had taken some diapers, a clean onesie and some food for Stiles, just in case.  

Derek nods, “I set everything up back at my place so it will be a little easier to take care of him. I went to Deaton and he said that the effect should wear off in less than two weeks.”

As soon as Stiles sees Derek he climbs off his rocking horse and scuttles to the alpha, hugging his legs as best as he can. “Der,” the baby coos as he nuzzles his face into the alpha’s knees.

“Hey there, pup. Are you having fun?” Derek asks, lifting the baby from the ground and cradling him to his chest. “I got something for you,” Derek says, taking a stuffed toy from the groceries bag. It’s a grey and white wolf with a comic smile, big black eyes, a fluffy tail and a blue sweater. Stiles shrieks happily and grabs the toy from Derek’s hands, hugging it tight.

John, who in the meantime had got up from the floor, chuckles at his son’s enthusiasm. “What do we say to Derek?”

“Thank you,” Stiles says with a tiny baby voice that makes Derek’s heart melt right there. Before Derek can reply, Stiles turns his head and presses a kiss to Derek’s scruffy cheek.

The smile that appears on Derek’s face is brighter than a thousand suns. He hasn’t been this happy in far too long. His life isn’t bad, no one is threatening his territory, he has a pack, he has a mate, he finally has a family again. He is happy, but now, seeing a toddler warm up for something such simple as a toy, he realizes just how much he wants to have a baby with Stiles, how much he wants to enjoy to have a tiny creature around who is happy just to be cuddled and loved. Hell, he wants his house to be full of kids, just like it was before the fire. 

“You’re welcome, little man. When you get home, you should say ‘thank you’ to Erica, she’s the one who bought it.”

John watches the two for some minutes, he had almost forgotten how it was to have a baby around. The sheriff also noticed that Derek knows his way around kids and that he would be a great father someday. “I thought that I might be a granddad sooner or later,” John says shaking his head. “But I never thought I’d be a father all over again.” After a pause he adds, “You’re staying for dinner.”

Derek nods and follows John into the kitchen, he knows it’s not a question but rather an order. After all those years, he still finds the sheriff intimidating sometimes, he had arrested him once, after all. He and also Isaac. At the beginning, when Stiles had just moved in with Derek, it was a little awkward when John came over to see how his son was doing but then they all got over it and considered the sheriff a member of their pack as well. Derek is like a son for the sheriff.

The high chair is already next to the dining table and Derek puts Stiles in it. The toddler is too busy with his wolf toy to notice and so he doesn’t complain when he’s not being cuddled anymore.

“I’ll make us steaks and you can make dinner for Stiles,” John suggests as he puts the steaks in the pan. Derek takes Stiles’ drinking cup from the groceries bag, rinses it and fills it. Then he proceeds to scramble one egg for Stiles who is watching the two men cooking. Soon dinner is ready, steak and mashed potatoes for the adults and a scrambled egg, cheese and peas for Stiles. The baby takes his baby fork and pushes the food around, not really knowing what to do with the object in his hand, so John takes the small fork and feeds him between one bite and the other. Dinner is unusually quiet, Derek and John talk about work and sports and Stiles contributes with some words or noises from time to time but it's nothing like what he does when he's an adult, both John and Derek realize how much they miss Stiles even if he's right there with them.

After dinner, while John loads the dishwasher, Derek takes the baby upstairs to change his diaper and his onesie. Stiles cries and flails his legs during the process, not too happy to be manhandled around while Derek tries to make him wear the onesie, but at the end Derek manages to put him into a clean diaper and a cute light blue onesie with little ducks. 

When he gets back downstairs he’s holding a sleepy Stiles on his hip. “Already going home?” John asks sounding a little disappointed.

“He’s falling asleep, it’s better if I get him home so I can put him to bed,” Derek explains taking Stiles’ stuffed toy from the kitchen table.

John nods and helps Derek put Stiles inside the Camaro into the car seat Derek had purchased that afternoon when he went shopping. As soon as Stiles is settled into his car seat he opens his sleepy eyes, looking up at his dad. “Go bye bye?” he asks and John nods, kissing his son’s forehead.

“Yes, Stiles. Bye bye,” John says waving at the kid.

Derek thanks the sheriff for everything with an handshake and a smile and then jumps in the Camaro and drives away as Stiles waves at his dad through the window.

 

*

 

John was right, Stiles is a very active kid and Derek has to keep an eye on him constantly because Stiles tends to get into troubles far too easily. Derek spends the second day playing outside in the preserve with Stiles, Isaac and Erica who are happy to spend time with the toddler and their alpha. Isaac spends as much time with Stiles as he manages and Derek can see Isaac being like a bigger brother for his cubs in the future. On the second day Isaac had told the truth to Derek, confirming his suspicions. He said that he had promised Stiles that he wouldn't tell the truth to Derek and, while he knew that a promise made to the alpha's mate is like a promise made to the alpha himself, Isaac had told Derek the truth because maybe knowing would have helped him find a cure. The alpha wasn’t mad at Isaac and he had even thanked the beta werewolf for being there with Stiles when he had asked the witch for help. Isaac often takes care of Stiles when Derek needs to run errands or when he's busy with his alpha duties and Stiles is happy to be left with Isaac. Isaac gives him ice cream and cookies, tells him stories making funny voices and carries him on his back like a horse. Derek does that too, but only when no one sees him, he doesn’t want Erica to get weird ideas in her mind. 

Erica is also good for Stiles, they play a lot outside when they’re together, their favorite game is chasing each other around the preserve and Erica is always careful enough not to let Stiles get too far into the preserve where there might be something dangerous for the human baby and she also keeps him from getting hurt. Erica, though, doesn’t change his diaper nor feeds him so Derek doesn’t leave them alone for more than one hour. She takes a lot of picture of them together because, like she said, this is a onetime only experience and she wants to have pictures to show Stiles when he’s an adult again. When she’s around the kid Derek and Isaac see a new side of Erica and having the baby around turns out to be also a bonding exercise for the three of them. Sometimes Erica’s mother instincts kick in and she’s the first to take the baby in her arms and rock him as he cries.

During the weekend Derek takes Stiles to his dad’s house so the two can spend some time together. Stiles is more comfortable with his dad than with anyone else, obviously, and the sheriff seems to know always what to do to stop the baby’s crying or make him laugh happily by tickling him in the right spots. It’s around the tenth day of the spell that Derek leaves Stiles with Isaac one evening to go and tell the sheriff the truth about the curse, that Stiles was so desperate to have a baby that he tried to use magic to obtain what he wanted. Derek also tells him that once Stiles is an adult again they will discuss about this and that if Stiles hasn’t changed his mind, Derek will do everything in his power to have kids. The sheriff is not surprised by his son’s stubbornness but it’s overwhelmed at the idea of having grandchildren around the house. He’s proud of his son.

By the end of the first week Stiles is still a toddler, he’s talking a little bit more, now he can formulate small sentences and can say the names of everybody in the pack. He still can’t say his real name but no one really can. He has mastered his walking skill and he can walk on his own, even if only for twenty or so steps, it's a progress but he still likes to be carried around, especially by Derek. Stiles has a new stuffed toy, courtesy of his dad, that he plays with all the time along with the wolf Erica got him the first day. It's a big orange fox that he had named ‘Red’ the night after Derek had told him the tale of little red and the big bad wolf.

Derek is worried when, on day thirteen, Stiles still hasn’t changed back. Deaton had said that the effect might last from ten days to two weeks but Derek is still worried that maybe Stiles won’t change back. That night he doesn’t sleep even if Stiles is right next to him, too many questions float in his mind, what if Stiles doesn’t turn back to normal? What if Stiles is permanently a baby and he has to grow up all over again? What if Stiles is stuck like this and he will stay a one year old toddler forever as Derek gets older? Stiles senses the werewolf distress and makes a small sound to catch the alpha’s attention. When Derek is looking at him Stiles hands him his wolf plushie for him to hug, it’s a one year old toddler’s way to comfort him and Derek is so touched by the gesture that he scoops the baby up and cradles him to his chest, kissing his nose. It’s Stiles’ way to tell him to stay calm because everything will be okay. He believes him and falls asleep.

 

*

 

Fifteen days after Isaac got home with Stiles turned into a toddler, Derek is exhausted. He had spent every waking moment taking care of Stiles and the few time he had for himself while the toddler was either napping or playing with one of the betas, was spent making researches on the spell that Stiles and the witch had tried, trying to figure out what was the proper way to make it work.

Fifteen days after Isaac got home with Stiles turned into a toddler, Stiles is an adult again. It’s a surprise for Derek who the night before had tucked under the covers a baby only to wake up the next day being snuggled by his adult mate. At first Derek is too sleepy to even realize that the body pressed against his is not one of a baby but rather the one of an adult, he just burrows his face into his pillow and mumbles something about needing more sleep so Stiles gets dressed (for precaution, knowing that it was likely the change was going to happen at night, Derek made the little kid sleep only in a diaper that got ripped off easily during the transformation process) and heads for the kitchen downstairs where he makes pancakes for breakfast.

As soon as Stiles dishes the first pancake Derek wakes up, the smell of warm pancakes wafting from the kitchen to his bedroom is enough to get him downstairs. “Stiles, why the hell are you cooking breakfast at seven? I had a pretty intense week, I deserve to sleep at least ‘til nine,” he groans as he walks into the kitchen with ruffled hair and ruffled clothes, looking too much like a sleepy puppy.

Before Stiles can say anything Derek realizes that the spell is finally broken and he jumps on Stiles and hugs him from behind, “Oh my god you’re back!” Derek yells relieved and buries his nose in Stiles’ neck, filling his nostrils with his mate’s scent.

With a little bit of struggle Stiles turns into his mate’s crushing embrace. “Yeah, I’m back,” he laughs and strokes Derek hair.

When Derek pulls back he’s happier than Stiles has ever seen him and his expression of joy is enough to make Stiles joyful. The happiness doesn’t last long, though, because Stiles knows he owes Derek some serious explanation and so he turns off the stove and looks at Derek in the eyes, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth.

“Look Derek, I know that I should have talked to you before asking a witch for help, I’m sorry,” Stiles starts but it’s cut off by Derek.

“Yes,” the werewolf says, his tone sounds final, like he has taken a decision and nothing is going to make him change his mind.

Stiles blinks, “Yes to… what exactly?”

“Yes, Stiles. Yes you should have talked to me first because we could have found a less dangerous way to do this, we could have filed for adoption, we could have looked for surrogates. Ys, I understand why you did it and I'm not mad at you. But most important, yes, I want a family with you, I want kids. I want to go running in the woods with our kids, I want to drive them to school on their first day and pick them up in the afternoon to listen to them talk about their first day and the new friends they made, I want our kids to spend time with your dad because he’d be an awesome granddad just like you’d be an awesome father, I want us to fight over baby names because no, we’re not calling them Luke and Leia, don’t even start,” Derek puts a finger against Stiles’ lips and Stiles pouts but doesn’t interrupt. Stiles had never told him how he wanted to name his kids but Derek knows him, and his Star Wars obsession, well enough to know which names Stiles wants his kids to have. “I want us to attend our son’s first lacrosse game, I want to scare the shit out of our daughter’s first boyfriend, I want to see you teach them how to drive, I want us to see them go off to college, get married and then eventually I want to have grandkids. So yes, Stiles. I want us to have a bigger family.” Derek lowers his hand and smiles shyly at Stiles who is looking at him with a baffled expression.

The confusion lasts few seconds in which Stiles blinks thinking of what Derek said all over again while Derek is fidgeting because Stiles’ expression is unreadable and he doesn’t know what’s coming.

“Let’s go find two puppies,” is all Stiles says before throwing himself in Derek’s arms and kissing him passionately.

Thanks to Derek’s researches, a more capable witch that Deaton had introduced them and two stray cubs Isaac and Erica had found one night at the borders of the preserve, they make the spell work. Thanks to magic now they have somebody to raise with love and affection, with the help both of the sheriff and the pack. They have somebody to love and to watch grow while growing up themselves, they have somebody to worry about and to take care of, somebody that will drive them crazy sometimes but that they will love nonetheless.

Derek and Stiles have Luke and Leia.

Scott is the only one who still doesn’t get the reference.

 


End file.
